Dutch Remote Gaming Bill details revealed
Bill set for parliamentary discussions in September as responsible gambling measures outlined
The Dutch Remote Gaming Bill has been presented to the country’s House of Representatives as the country continues to move towards a predicted market opening of Q2 2015.
The Bill was submitted yesterday and has now passed stage two of six, with the next step being its activation for plenary of Parliament where discussions will begin in September.
The new measures are set for discussion and possible alteration before the Bill is submitted to the country’s Senate, and the Bill is still expected to be passed into law by 1 January 2015.
However operators are unlikely to be licenced until Q2 2015 and Jan Suvyer, chairman of the Kansspeautoriteit, said that he hoped the market would open around 1 June 2015.
Supporting documents were also published by the Kansspeautoriteit yesterday in which they outlined several of the responsible gambling measures operators will be required to abide by should they wish to receive a permit from the Dutch government.
Licence applicants will be considered to have an “active duty” to help prevent gambling addiction and display information relating to the issue to users when they log in to their online accounts.
Details of social workers and help programmes must also be made available on operator websites, while a universal self-exclusion “ much like the one currently under discussion in the UK “ is set to be introduced.
Customers wishing to be excluded can enrol themselves on a central register which would exclude them from all gambling activity for six months, and all operators will have to have systems in place to ensure that those participating in online betting and gaming do not feature on the central register.
Licence applicants will have to have a registered office within the EU or EEA or have to comply with other, as yet unnamed conditions, and the Kansspeautoriteit’s powers are set to be “significantly extended” to ensure compliance with the new regulations.
Earlier this month the country’s ruling coalition government finally settled on a tax rate of 20% GGR with further contributions to be made to responsible gambling initiatives.